Pinnacle Mountain: 3D Printing Topographical Features

Following up from my previous post about making a stl file from a geographical feature, I wanted to give an update on the project. See the final result and the steps I followed to make the 3D file a reality! A special thanks to Andrew (andrew@apex3dprints.com) at Apex 3D Prints for helping make this a reality!

Editing in Blender

I wanted the print to fit inside of a snow globe, so I trimmed the perimeter of the print down so it would have a circular base. Also, to allow the snow globe to be filled with water, I punched a hole in the bottom to align with the hole in my snow globe base.

Repairing the File

I had a lot of issues with invalid geometry in my file, probably because the level of detail is so high in this model. To avoid having to manually fix hundreds of these errors, I found an online tool that did a great job of fixing these automatically. FormWare was really quick and easy to use in a browser, I recommend giving it a try!

3D Printing

Instead of using a large, national 3D printing services can be expensive for small projects like this one. Apex 3D Prints is fast, local to the RDU area, and has great customer serivice. Additionally, Andrew was able to talk me through the best finish options for my project. Since I intended to paint this print, a primer layer was the best choice.

Paint and Varnish

Since I already had some acrylic paints around the house, I used those to paint the primed print. After the paint dried, I sprayed on a matte varnish, which greatly improved the look of the final product.

Summary

This was a really fun project, I’m looking forward to more 3D printing projects in the future. If you have ideas, let me know in the comments!